Childish

74

Mommy was busy cleaning all morning. She made a lot of noise cleaning in the kitchen and then made her way into the living room where two full hampers were stuffed with clothes she needed to fold. She didn't even look like she was breaking a sweat.

I, on the other hand, hadn't moved from my spot on the couch in over two hours.

Mommy sat down on the other end of the couch and began pulling clothes out one at a time so she could fold them into piles.

"Mommy, you should relax."

She smiled as she added to the pile of towels for the bathroom. "If I relax, we won't have any clean clothes for the week."

"You should make daddy help."

"He's helping by keeping Cooper out of my way. I swear, when he sees something clean, he thinks he has to make it dirty again."

"That's what boys do, mommy."

She shook her head. "I wish they wouldn't sometimes. It's hard to keep this place looking nice when there's always someone making a mess."

I crawled over to where she was. "You know, when I was Cooper's age, I had chores to do around the house. It was just some dusting and taking out the trash so it wasn't that hard."

"Cooper's not ready for that yet."

"Well if you showed him how to do it, I'm sure he could figure it out."

Mommy shook her head. "Cooper's not there yet, sweetie. I know you were able to do those things but Cooper still needs to grow up first."

I sighed. If they didn't treat everyone like babies, they'd be able to help out with chores or even work before they were eighteen. I was never going to agree with the baby rule in Alpine.

She patted my leg. "I know you're just trying to help, baby. Why don't you fold some towels with me? That would help me out a lot."

I sat back on the couch beside her and started folding the hand towel that was closest to me. "Maybe I should just pretend to be a baby so I don't have to help."

"Then you'd miss out on all the fun."

"You call this fun?"

"I think spending time with you is fun. I like being able to do stuff with just you. It feels special."

I couldn't argue with that. Growing up an only child, I got used to being the center of attention. Having Cooper around had definitely been an adjustment. Most days, there weren't any issues but there were some days where I wished I didn't have to put up with Cooper.

Mommy finished her stack way before I did and gathered up the bath towels in her arms. "I'll be right back."

I kept folding my stack at my snail pace. I wasn't very eager to help, even though I knew mommy appreciated it. Even with my real parents, I hated having to do any chores.

Cooper came running into the room from the direction of the kitchen. His cheeks were red from running and his knees had dirt on them.

He stopped to look around the room and then frowned. "Where's mommy?"

"She's putting towels away."

He groaned. "I want mommy to play with me."

"Mommy's busy." I added another towel to my pile.

His groan started to turn into a whine. "But I wanted mommy to play with me."

Daddy walked in the room and leaned against the back of the couch. "Cooper, mommy's busy right now. Let's go back outside."

At that point, Cooper's whine turned into a full blown cry, tears and all.

Daddy sighed and walked over to where Cooper was. Copper tried to move out of his reach but daddy was faster and caught him before he could get far. Daddy pulled Copper into his arms and let him cry with his face hidden in daddy's chest.

Mommy walked down the steps and stopped at the bottom when she caught sight of what was going on. "Cooper, come here, baby."

Cooper's face was red and covered with tears as he ran over to mommy.

"Baby, you know daddy will play with you."

Cooper took in a shaky breath so he could talk. "I don't want daddy, I want you."

Mommy frowned. "I know, baby. But I have to get some things done around the house. You can play with daddy and Lyla for now."

He sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "Okay."

Mommy lifted the bottom of her shirt up and wiped away the tears from Cooper's face. More still continued to build in his eyes but at least he wasn't hysterical anymore. "Go with daddy. He'll get you a sippy and then you guys can go back outside and play some more."

Cooper nodded and walked back over to daddy like nothing was wrong and he was fine the entire time. "Daddy, can I have a sippy?"

Daddy put his arm around Cooper's shoulders and guided him into the kitchen.

I looked back at mommy. She was still standing at the bottom of the steps. Cooper's tears stained the bottom of her gray shirt and she had a crease forming between her eyes.

"Mommy, it's okay."

She turned her attention to me, almost like she'd forgotten I was there since I was so quiet, and gave me a smile that seemed a bit forced. "Thanks, baby."

"Would it help if we went to the park for a while?"

Mommy hesitated before she walked over to me and lifted me into her arms. "That would help me out a lot, actually. Let's go tell daddy."